Port of Everett decides on a lower property tax levy

Published 11:20 pm Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Port of Everett approved a new property tax levy Tuesday, deciding to charge homeowners around $80 a year to support waterfront projects and programs.

The tax replaces one at a slightly higher rate that was in effect this year. In 2007, the rate was 31 cents per $1,000 of assessed value and collected $3.9 million.

The 2008 levy will collect $99,160 more next year at a rate of 27.7 cents per $1,000 in value because of new construction. That means a home valued at $300,000 would be billed $83.10. A home valued at $200,000 would pay $55.40 for the port tax. It will be applied to residents of the port district, which includes Everett and portions of Mukilteo and Marysville.

The measure was approved over the objection of Commissioner Phil Bannan, who makes his feelings clear every year.

“I’ll just play the record I’ve been playing the last nine years,” he said. “The appetite for public funds is insatiable (by government). If we reduce the amount of money available, the nonessential projects will fall off the list.”

Bannan said during a public hearing on the port’s budget and tax levy that the port should make enough money from its assets and operations to eliminate any need for a property tax.

Commissioner Connie Niva said the tax money is used well to create economic vitality in the region and has a strong payoff. “It’s a pretty high return,” she said, noting that the port in 2006 accounted for 1,241 direct jobs and for many others as goods passed through its terminals.

Commission Don Hopkins also supported the tax, noting that the port’s tax rate has dropped each year for many years. “We’re going in the right direction,” he said.

Hopkins said he likens the tax to a job because the ability to generate tax money means that lenders have no problem loaning money to the port at low rates because they know where the payments are coming from.

“It’s like you going up to the community bank and saying, ‘I’d like to borrow money but I don’t have a job.’ That tax is like a job.”

Ken Hudson of the Longshoremen’s union supported the tax, especially when the money is used to expand shipping terminals at the port and to increase work for his members.

“You’re not moving fast enough on opportunities,” he told the commissioners. “We represent 120 people who you provide the opportunity of employment.”

Neighborhood resident David Macarenes raised questions about the tax, noting it was higher than those taxes imposed by Seattle (23 cents per thousand) and Tacoma (18 cents). He also asked what the port was doing to lower or eliminate the tax.

Mascarenes asked for responses to his questions in writing, and John Mohr, the port’s executive director, promised that port staff would provide that. In addition to approving the tax levy, the commission also approved its 2008 operating budget of $16.052 million.

Everett resident Valerie Steel quizzed the commissioners on several aspects of the budget, including why attorney fees were rising during a period where the port had hired a lawyer as assistant director, saying it would help to curb fees.

Mohr said part of the answer is that the port is expected to spend $6 million in cleaning up contaminated soil on the waterfront for a $400 million redevelopment project and has been spending a significant amount in consultant and lawyer fees in anticipation of going after the polluting companies or their insurers for cleanup costs.